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This has nothing to do with physical optics if I understood it right? The blog post does use concepts such as lens and prism so I'm a bit confused.
by cinntaile 1y ago
This has nothing to do with physical optics if I understood it right? The blog post does use concepts such as lens and prism so I'm a bit confused.
- birttAdenors 1y agoThis has to do with category theory and programming notions of optics and lenses.
- kqr 1y agoCorrect. The term "optics" is used by analogy; functional optics let us "zoom in" on parts of a data structure, and "zoom out to" a data structure surrounding a value.
- manoDev 1y agoCategory theorists seem to enjoy coming up with confusing nomenclature.
- random3 1y agocompared to CS nomenclature which is all crystal clear
- haskman 1y agoThe name lens came from the property of their letting you "focus" onto parts of a larger data structure. The prism nomenclature is more tenuous - prisms evoke the imagery of a beam of light splitting into its constituent parts, and with a prism you can see a particular facet of the whole (sum types).